My daughters came home from school one afternoon with hearts
filled with a mixture of excitement and dismay. They had in their hands a copy of
a DVD that was part of a presentation earlier in their school chapel service.
Once settled in for the evening, the girls suggested that we also watch the DVD
as a family. The DVD was from an organization and their main mission was to organize
summer camps in various locations in China with volunteers from America and
other surrounding continents. The storyline for this DVD highlighted one of
the orphans and she shared the experience she received at one of the camps.
Below is a sample clip from the DVD.
Below is a sample clip from the DVD.
After viewing the disk I remember having feelings of
compassion and sorrow for those just witnessed on the DVD and for anyone that
would suffer in such a way. A few days had passed since watching the disc and one morning during my
devotional time my heart was pressed upon with the memories of the DVD and the
orphans. That’s when I felt that it was a call to serve the orphans with love, hope,
and compassion at the China Orphan Camps that coming July.
So,
in July 2011, my 17-year-old daughter and I took a trip
to China and worked with the orphans. That is where I met this amazing
little
guy. He teamed up with me during my first week of two. He took well
to me and often found ourselves just like father and son. The experience
was
simply incredible, to say the least.
It was on the last day of week one when Blue (Lee) wrote me a
goodbye letter and in that letter told me he would like to come to America and
learn a little English and also it would be nice if I could be his father. That
was quite a humbling moment to hear that he thought that much of me in such a
short amount of time. Before we knew it our time was over and I was putting him
on the bus, sobbing and crying, for the nearly four-hour bus ride back to the
orphanage. This was a very tough time for both of us. The feeling that best describes
my emotions at that time was as if I were putting my own child on a bus to a
land of the destitute and I had no control over it.
The whole experience was incredible and I was so blessed to
be able to have the opportunity to go and serve the orphans in China. My family
and I thought and prayed for the right decision to make concerning the adoption.
After much consideration, the final decision of our family was in favor
of the pursuit of the adoption of Blue (Lee).
Thus… the pursuit has begun…
